2014 has been quite a year for biometrics. I'll stick my neck out and pick three key areas that I think will stand out when our biometrics community looks back on 2014 from the next decade…

Firstly, there seems to be a consensus across the industry that the rollout of highly-usable fingerprint sensors on the latest iPhones is a watershed moment (albeit one that seeded in late 2013). 2014 has seen millions upon millions of people around the world put a trusted biometric sensor into their pockets and start using it hourly. Familiarity might breed contempt, but it also dispels myths - and drives demand. "Why can't authentication to be as easy as using TouchID?" is going to become a common refrain in the years to come.

Secondly, we've noted a change in the business priorities of many buyers. Biometrics is no longer just about security improvements or fraud reduction. Instead, many organisations are looking to biometrics technologies to deliver superior customer experiences, and efficiency gains - with risk reduction as an additional benefit, almost a "given". This year has seen a shift in buyer priorities from a focus on fraud, to a focus on experience.

Finally, big changes on the technology front. The API trend and the rapid adoption of "Everything-as-a-Service" is transforming the way that we are shaping biometric solutions. Customers are also increasingly keen on a "deploy once, use many" approach that lends itself well to the uptake of cross-enterprise biometric services. We see increased interest in - and yes, readiness to accept - cloud-hosted biometric solutions. And, perhaps most tangibly, biometric modalities previously considered exotic, such as ECG and eye-vein, are finding their way into consumer-grade products. Combine these technology trends with the appetite that the industry is generating, and there surely is an exciting 2015 ahead!